2/? Post Apocalyptic | #WednesdayWrites

So a few weeks ago for #WednesdayWrites you may or may not know that I wrote a short piece for the Final Task of Mahriya from My Bookish Life’s Typewriter Project. I enjoyed it so much and it was good practice so I ended up continuing to write it.

Kaern stared him down, unflinching. He was right. He was being a terrible leader to Parker. A good leader wouldn’t leave Parker behind. Whether he was dead or not, he owed it to the younger boy and his family to at least try and bring him back. Jin could see that whether or not he agreed, Kaern would be marching to the city below to find Parker. Though he would much prefer that all of them went together.

“Well?”

Did he even really need to think about it? Parker was essential to the team’s dynamic. With all of the time they’d spent training together, living together for years it almost seemed wrong to call them a team. They were a family. He couldn’t really live if Parker was left behind. Good leader in the eyes of the officials or not, he couldn’t leave Parker behind. Denying it was next to useless.

Finally he spoke, “You understand what happens if we get caught right?”

“Does that even matter?” Mathieu questioned beating Kaern to the punch, “We can’t just leave Parker down there.”

Jin shook his head, “No. We can’t.” he met each of their gazes for a moment, “But we’ll all be the ones paying for it if we get caught.”

“Then we just won’t get caught,” If only it were that simple. Jin tried to smile at Jakob’s optimism, as he watched a puppy like smile erupt on the blonde’s face.

Jin nodded shortly, “Pack up. I want to be out by sunset at the latest. Being in the city after dark means death.”

With an unexplained rush of energy the younger three packed the equipment up in a hurry. Jin turned and glared down at the city once more. Parker you’d better be okay. Keep your damn promise and just stay alive.

“Alright, Kaern I need the coordinates of the last location from Parker’s tracker before we lost connection. We’ll start from there and fan out in groups of two. Communicators are to be on at all times and there is absolutely no wandering off alone.” Jin instructed as they took the truck down the rough dirt path, towards the edge of the city.

“On it.” Kaern replied from the back, sounding infinitely more receptive to Jin than he had been earlier.

“Don’t discharge your weapons unless absolutely necessary. I want to find Parker and get out. Do not engage unless you are fired at first. Are we clear?”

The resounding, eager, “yes!” echoed throughout the confined space, ensuring that all three had heard him. With each passing second he could feel his worry for Parker overtaking his worry at going against protocol. It was easier to push any opposing thoughts from his head as they drew closer to the city. When the engine cut off he glanced towards Mathieu, who sat in the driver’s seat. From the younger man he received an encouraging nod before he turned and clambered out from the car.

“His last known location was this way.” Kaern said, climbing over the torn down wire fence, and pointing to the East.

“Alright we’ll split off when we reach that point. Jakob go with Kaern, Mathieu with me.”

There was no hesitation in his stride this time as he stepped over the fence and started in the direction Kaern pointed to. Broken chunks of concrete crunching beneath their boots was the only sound they heard aside from the whistle of the wind snaking around them. All four pairs of eyes scanned the rubble in search of Parker or a sign that something was amiss, but all they found was the remnants of the destroyed city.

“Verlaine* used to be pretty.” Jin muttered, staring at the shattered display windows and shards of glass that littered their path.

“Over there.” Kaern called out suddenly. The other three snapped to attention. He was pointing down at the wreckage of what looked like a car pileup. It’d probably happened during the clamour to escape the city just before it fell.

“Do you see something?” Jin asked striding to where Kaern stood.

“His tracker.” Kaern replied, hooking the locator device on his belt before grabbing hold of the edge of a large piece of concrete that’d be uprooted and lowering himself down the steep hill. One by one they followed after him. Kaern crouched in front of the broken tracker scoffing lightly under his breath. There was a large crack along the glass. It was broken. That explained why his earlier efforts to connect with it had been without result.

“He must have lost it.” Mathieu spoke up, tugging Kaern back from his thoughts. Picking it up he straightened out and handed it to Jin to look at.

“It’s broken too, which explains why I couldn’t get to it before.”

“Should have just attached one that he couldn’t lose to him.” Jin muttered under his breath, examining the broken device before shoving it into his bag, ignoring the other three’s snickers of agreement.

“Mathieu, you and I will go east. Jakob, you and Kaern take west. We’ll meet back here an hour before sunset whether or not we’ve found him. That should give us enough time to get clear of the city.”

All business, he made sure to impress a firm glare to each of the remaining members of his team. He needed them to understand the severity of his words. He’d lost one of the most important people to him already he wasn’t about to lose anymore.

Variations of ‘yep’ and ‘you got it boss’ were tossed around before he was left standing next to Mathieu, the second youngest.

“Should we go now?” Mathieu questioned, making Jin pull his eyes away from the pair of retreating backs to look at him. With a short nod they headed in the opposite direction of the other pair, falling into step together.

*Verlaine is just the name of a fictional city. I picked at random don’t ask lol